LOS GATOS >> Having played the first half of the spring without the core of its squad because of the transfer rule implemented for its inaugural year in girls’ sports, Palma High was a softball program without an identity.

While the Chieftains were late bloomers, they’ve been spoilers in the postseason.

Rallying for two runs in the seventh inning Wednesday, the Chieftains are going to the Central Coast Section Division IV finals after knocking off Sacred Heart Cathedral of San Francisco 3-2 at Los Gatos High.

Seeded No. 8 in the playoffs, Palma (10-14) will face No. 3 seed Woodside (15-11) — 2-1 winners over Watsonville — on Saturday at either West Valley College or San Jose City College.

Palma, who brought girls back to campus after 60 years this past school year, have knocked off top-seed Notre Dame-San Jose and West Catholic Athletic League nemesis Sacred Heart Cathedral to reach the finals.

“Honestly, a month ago is when it started clicking,” Palma coach Sam Salter insisted. “We put our heads together and said if we are going to go down, let’s go down fighting. It took a while to gel. There are a lot of different personalities.”

The Chieftains will go into the finals riding a five-game winning streak.

“We just put an emphasis on that not one person is going to get it done,” Salter said. “We have to work together. We’ve had different people contributing. Today was a completely different string of kids getting it done from our last game.”

Staring at a 2-1 deficit, Palma produced two runs in the top of the seventh with Ashlyn Urmanita and Brianna Hernandez both driving in runs to give them a one-run cushion.

Sophie Cardinale, who will pitch next year at Santa Clara University, tossed a gem for the Chieftains, retiring the side in the seventh to send them to the finals.

“The moment is tough,” said Salter, a former all-county hurler at Salinas High. “But we get tougher. The entire dugout was excited. We’re enjoying the moment.”

Open Division

Salinas will turn its attention to the Northern California tournament after falling to No. 2 seed St. Francis of Mountain View 6-1 in the Central Coast Section Open Division playoffs.

“We know we can play with these teams,” Salinas coach Ron Guzman said. “I told the girls after the game that we get to come back and have some fun. The pressure of graduation will be over. Now let’s go play some softball and do something special at NorCal.”

Salinas, which won a share of the Pacific Coast Athletic League’s Gabilan Division title and knocked off Monterey last week in the Open Division opener to secure a spot in the Northern California tournament, has seven seniors who are graduating Thursday.

“We weren’t up like we have been the last seven or eight games,” Guzman said. “We made a lot of mental mistakes with cutoffs and on the base paths.”

Salinas, which won the CCS Division I softball crown last year, reached the Northern California Division II semifinals.

The Cowboys (18-9) came into the CCS playoffs riding a wave of emotion, having gone 7-1 in their last eight games, with the one setback being a 2-1 loss to Open Division top seed Willow Glen in a nonleague game.

“We’re starting to put it together really well,” Guzman said. “I think it has a lot to do with playing higher caliber teams at the end. It’s good to see that we can play with these teams. But we have to learn to finish.”

Base running mistakes crippled the Cowboys, who got doubled up twice, ending innings that began with runners at first and third.

Jaslyne Coronado and Kelsie Domenighini each had two hits for Salinas, with Coronado driving in the team’s only run.

Division II

A bid to four-peat as CCS divisional champions came to a halt for Alvarez, as it was knocked out of the Division II playoffs by San Mateo 2-1 at Capuchino High.

Alvarez came into the semifinal meeting having won 10 straight CCS playoff games, having captured two Division I and one Division III section titles, as well as a Northern California Division IV crown last spring.

“We have had a beautiful run,” Alvarez coach Andy Meza said. “We built our program to be a playoff team. We don’t have the travel ball player. We play with raw talent. I’ve had great coaches to build that talent. But it’s also about building a strong mentality.”

Seeded No. 7 in the tournament, San Mateo has beaten two county teams to advance to Saturday’s title game, having knocked off No. 2 seed Pacific Grove 9-8 and No. 6 Alvarez (17-12) by a single run.

The loss ended a four-year run for Alvarez hurler Dani Amendola, who broke the county strikeout record earlier this year with nearly 1,000 strikeouts. The senior went 13-2 in the postseason.

“I’ve never had a pitcher like this before,” said Meza, in speaking about Amendola. “She’s a machine.”

Alvarez, which finished fourth in the Gabilan Division and opened the playoffs with a 9-1 win over No. 3 seed St. Ignatius, took an early 1-0 lead in the fourth when Michelle Wallace drove in a run.

The Bearcats (16-9), who came from behind to beat Pacific Grove in the quarterfinals, rallied again, tying the game in the fifth and producing the game-winning run in the top of the seventh.

Division V

Soledad, which was making its first postseason appearance in the program’s 25 seasons, advanced to the semifinals after beating Santa Clara 17-9 on Saturday.

No. 2 seed South San Francisco will face No. 4 King City on Saturday at either West Valley or San Jose City College for the CCS Division V softball title and a spot in the Northern California playoffs.

Bumped to the Mission Division this year, the No. 3 seeded Aztecs (13-10) jumped out to a 1-0 lead to open the game when Maria Villarruel singled home Aubrey Esparza.

The Warriors (16-8) answered with five runs in the bottom half of the inning, scoring three more in the third before the game was called in the fifth inning because of the 10-run rule.